Thursday, November 29, 2012

Let's talk about Stitch in the Ditch, (SID). I will share why and when I SID, and when I make exceptions. Whenever I am doing custom work, I SID a lot. I do my ditch work before I do the decorative stitching because the ditch work stabilizes the piecing and eliminates distortion when the decorative stitching is done.

First off, I would do the SID on the seam lines before the loops, but for this picture I did not. See how the seams don't lie nice and flat? In the next photo I did the SID and I think it shows how the triangle shape lays nice and flat.

In this photo, I did ditch work on all sides of the green, and then I did the decorative stitching. By doing the ditch work first, my edges are nice and crisp and there is no distortion when I start the other stitching.

In this photo, I wanted to show that I would do SID along all the edges of the colored piecing, but I did not do any stitching in the white areas. I am going to fill the white area with dense swirl stitching, and I will stitch right over the seam lines, so in my opinion, SID is not necessary here.

All edges around the colored bands are SID, giving them nice crisp definition. Again, I do all ditch work before I do the decorative stitching.

I hope some of this made sense and I was able to explain myself. SID takes more time, and often thread changes, but I think the difference it makes is worth the extra time and effort. A lot of time was put into piecing the top, and giving that piecing the extra benefit of SID to emphasize the detail of the piecing is well worth it.

So, SID is up to individual quilters, this is just why and when I do it. Thanks for reading, I appreciate it.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

This is not a new quilt, and it is one of those projects that took a couple eight years to finish. It is one of my favorite quilts and Christmas decorations.

I made this quilt way before I knew anything about FMG or that longarm machines even existed. I did the quilting on my domestic machine, and there are quite a lot of wobbly lines. Oh well.

When I was making this quilt it was all about the machine and hand applique of all the Santas. There are 25 of them, and each one is different.

I love this quilt, even though I look at is and see so many things that I would do differently today. That is what our quilt journey is all about, looking back and seeing our progress, and looking to future quilts and imagining what will be. Now that I place more importance on the quilting aspect of a quilt, I appreciate this wobbly lined quilt even more. I remember working on this when my children were little, each Santa taking on a personality of it's own, and the satisfaction I felt when it was finally finished. A quilt is so much more that just a quilt, it is the story they tell, and the untold story only the maker may know.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

I have a clever and creative friend who makes the cutest children's clothes from vintage fabrics. I have wanted to buy some of her designs for quite a while, but just needed my little ones to get a bit bigger. Today was my day.

Holly and her new dress made from a vintage table cloth. How clever is that?

Micah says hers is a keeper for sure, again made from an old table cloth.

And the back, see how cute the back is?

The clever designer of these cute clothes is my friend Sue and you can see more of her cute designs on her website. I do love making things for the girls, but it was really fun to buy cute and unique dresses to get us ready for the holiday season.

Thanksgiving here was a wonderful day full of family, love and food. Now, on to Christmas.

Monday, November 19, 2012

I am starting work on the Celtic Knot quilt. I love looking at a quilt loaded on the frame all ready to start.

Each of the cords is quilted differently, and the background is concentric circles. Once I had a plan in mind it all fell into place. My initial plan changed, but now I am on track, and quilting merrily along. This one will take some time, and I am alright with that. I enjoy the process of quilting, the zone I get into, and I try not to worry about how long things are taking. I am in no rush, and find I get uptight when I try to push myself too far and go faster than I am comfortable with.

With the holidays here, and the new baby, school break for by adult kids who teach, we have many family things going on. Last night everyone was here just hanging out. Four adult kids, and all four grand babies. It was wonderful. I am content to put my sewing and quilting on a break when necessary, and enjoy more time with the kids. I do feel an obligation of sorts to keep up with my blog, but even that can take a break from time to time. This week I think will be one of those times. What with shopping, cooking, eating, baking , more eating, gathering and playing. It is all good.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

This adorable baby quilt was made by Annette, and she tells me it is her first quilt! Well, if this is her first, I hope she continues quilting because she is an amazing quilter. Her machine applique was some of the best I've ever seen.

These pics are all sideways, and that is just the way they are.

There is minky for the back of the quilt and the goal was to make the finished quilt soft and cuddly. So, I went with no batting and minimal quilting. Mostly SID and a just a little more.

There is just a little hint of quilting on the back. It worked out perfectly.

A few hints for working with minky. I loaded it with the selvages on the leaders. This way the side to side stretch is minimized. When I rolled it, I was extra careful not to stretch it, and left it quite loose while quilting. Other than that I had no issues at all. The little bit of quilting kept the top and backing together, but did not interfere with the softness and cuddliness of the finished quilt. So, for this quilt, less was best.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

I am so happy to have this quilt finished. I do like it, but I don't 'love' it, and I actually had a bit of a struggle making myself finish it. I like the colors, (they are my son's colors, and this will most likely go to him) the fabric is super soft flannel that looks like wool, but I don't really like the pattern. Oh well, it is finished, and that I really like.

Before and after quilting, what a difference.

A view from the back.

And now I have two empty bins. Woo Hoo!

I am on a self imposed mission to finish up all my outstanding projects, in as timely a manner as I can. What I have learned through this is that projects are much more fulfilling to me if I do them when I first want to do them, and work my way, all the way through a project. Rarely does this happen, but this is my ideal. Too often when I come back to a project I have lost some of the initial thrill that I had when I first purchased the fabric, made the first cuts, and started creating. After it sits in a bin, gets pushed back on the shelf, now it is more of a chore. I still like it, and I still like sewing and quilting, but just not as much as I initially did, so now it is more difficult to find the time and motivation to finish it. That, and I am trying to restrain from starting anything new, until I finish up more of the old. Enough already, I am just happy this one is finished.

Thanks for checking in, I appreciate your company, and of course I love your comments.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

The top of the Celtic Knot is pieced. There are 2,025 two inch squares in this quilt. I was able to do quite a bit of it by strip piecing, and that made things much easier. I had a few mis-sews, but all in all it went smoothly, and my seams (there were thousands of them) matched up well. And, I did about half of the piecing on my treadle machine. I am finally getting the feel of that one, and enjoying sewing on it. Here are some more pictures of the quilt.

I am looking forward to quilting this one. It is for my son and daughter in law, maybe I will get it finished for Christmas. My son picked the fabrics out a year, maybe two years ago. I have totally enjoyed piecing this quilt, and I am glad I am working through my UFO bins.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

It seems for a variety of reasons, (a baby shower, visiting puppy, stomach trouble, convalescent care of Steve's mom, and other assorted life activities), I have not done much sewing or quilting. This has both positive and negative effects. I had to slow down a bit over the last week, and it has actually been kind of nice. Time to take a breath, and not put so much pressure on myself. I had a few days with a stomach bug that while it didn't knock me out. it did trip me up a bit. I'm all better now, and because of the short break I am anxious to get back to sewing. Steve's mom has been moved to a rehabilitation care center. Her attitude is generally good, pain levels from low to high, and we take things day by day.

About Me

I am Esther, and I have loved sewing as long as I can remember. Many years ago, I started an embroidery business so I could work from home and raise my children. I now own a longarm quilting machine to redirect my home based business to match my current obsession. Sewing has always been part of my life, and try as I might not to, I always have threads on the floor.